A number with a dollar sign

Stephen Colbert, in his usual style, takes on the privatization of the prison industry, and manages to get in a few good digs (including mention of the Juvenile sentencing for kickbacks scheme in a private detention center).

The following study shows how the interception of marijuana shipments into NYC in 1969, led thousands of people to use harder drugs.

OPERATION INTERCEPT CHAPTER 2The Multiple Consequences of Public Policy By Lawrence A. Gooberman
The Multiple Consequences of Operation Intercept
The findings given in this chapter have been consolidated from the responses to each of the major areas of inquiry as set forth in the interview guide. Excerpts from taped interviews with drug users and drug sellers, as well as drug abuse rehabilitation workers and journalists who closely observed the events of the summer of 1969 in the New York City area, will be presented. The findings are divided into three sections. The first section will focus on the availability of marihuana during the Operation Intercept era. The second section will be concerned with the range of behavioral reactions to the marihuana shortage. The third section will explore attitudinal reactions to the situation and to the underlying public policy. continued…

Medical Establishment Cares More About Profits Than People
by yves engler June 24, 2003
Last Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal and Financial Times ran front page articles about accussations against Medco, a subsidiary of Merck & Co. over false statements and claims to the government. This is in addition to investigations of Medco over violations of anti-trust, consumer-protection and pharmacy-licensing laws by at least 25 state attorney generals. Chief federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, Patrick Meehan said: these allegations suggest that, somewhere along the line, the focus became the profit instead of the patient. (FT, June 24, 2003) Somewhere along the line a capitalist corporation chose profit over the patient. Stop the presses. This is scandalous. A for-profit corporation, Medco, is accused of throwing ethics out the window to focus on increasing its return on investment. continued…

The Senate Race and Marijuana Prohibition
Odd, isn’t it, that all the U.S. Senate candidates, and the people who ask them questions trying to elicit their positions on issues people care about, seem to have forgotten that in the last election, a whopping 65 percent of the voters went for marijuana decriminalization? continued…

The only way we are going to get marijuana legalized will be from a vote by the people because there are too many corporations,most are in the top earnings bracket,that only continue their profits as long as marijuana remains illegal.
Some are obvious opponents to marijuana and others are in the background,making money off marijuana,the black market,laundering the untaxed cash,drug testing,industrialized prisons,attorneys,anti-drug organizations and elected legislators.
With all our technology and the involvement of the FDIC in banking,how do the bankers that are laundering all that cash get away with it,unless they are bribing the FDIC or the investigators that are supposed to be looking for the cash transactions that are that large?
With out reforms on election fund donations(by lobbies)we will never be able to outbid these corporations for our freedom through the House or the Senate.
Our only recourse is to petition for a vote by the people,and the continued educating of the unaware people why our legislators,appointed drug enforcement idiots and leaders have ignored science,doctors and the citizens of the United States in removing marijuana from schedule 1.

He made a comment the other night while talking about california’s prisons (i think,) he said “we should be happy about them releasing dangerous prisoners earlier because we should be saving those spots for black people caught with joints.” (not an exact quote)

As we all know SB109 passed on Tuesday setting regulations for younger patients and doctors. Thursday in the state capital our senate committee will take public comment so please get out and exercise your free speech if you can on Thursday.